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Django Unchained: Tarantino goes back to the South

Quentin Tarantino is a Tennessee boy, and his latest film, Django Unchained, is going back to his roots. Lifting the concept of Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 “Django”, Tarantino is forging a path into the Spaghetti Western and I reckon we can look forward to Tarantino’s iconic characters sharing the screen with some incredible landscapes. Westerns are the ultimate setpiece, after all.

As we’ve come to expect from Tarantino, this is shaping up as a period piece with complete disregard for the rules; Gorgeously shot, kicking off with a James Brown soundtrack and the inimitable Cristoph Waltz in his first mainstream good-guy role. Or so it seems… I have a feeling that Tarantino will have at least one twist up his sleeve and that old Cristoph isn’t quite as heroic as he first appears.

Jamie Foxx is doing what he does best, as the displaced black hero striving for vindication he has carried through since stellar performances in Ray and Collateral. And Tarantino isn’t shying away from the subject of race. Django promises to provide a brutal and troublingly accurate depiction of the racial divide that underpins much of American cultural history. Tarantino is in his element here; “That’s the reason to do it,” he said in an interview, “its to absolutely deal with that. Show how America was back then and how fucked up we were.”

With Samuel L. Jackson practically in the realms of glorious cameo, Franco Nero very definitely in cameo mode reliving his 1966 character, and Leonardo DiCaprio continuing the good work he began with in Blood Diamond turning his typecast on its head, Django is already gathering fans. Will Smith called it “a GENIUS screenplay”, and with over 2.5 million views across youtube, take a look at trailer. Turn up the sound and watch it in HD. Can’t wait ’til Christmas.